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Cancun Roundup: A Modest Deal's a Deal (Updated)

"Negotiators from about 190 countries reached a modest set of agreements early Saturday in Cancun on how to tackle global warming but punted some of the most controversial questions for a later date.

A year after U.N.-led talks all but collapsed in Copenhagen, delegates from countries large and small signed off on a package of low-hanging fruit that includes establishing a program to keep tropical rainforests standing, sharing low-carbon energy technologies and preparing a $100 billion fund to help the world's most vulnerable cope with a changing climate.

'What we have now is a text that, while not perfect, is certainly a good basis for moving forward,' Todd Stern, the top U.S. climate official, said during the all-night bargaining session that culminated in approval of what's known as the Cancun Agreement.

Stern's reluctant endorsement was echoed over and over into the early morning hours as diplomats scarred by the chaos in Copenhagen accepted a deal that fails to ratchet down greenhouse gas emissions anywhere close to scientific recommendations."
Darren Samuelsohn reports for Politico December 11, 2010.